Peugeot Citroen to cut 8,000 jobs

Peugeot Citroen has announced plans to slash 8,000 jobs and shut down one facility in its home country of France.

The international carmaker has stated it will be closing its Aulnay assembly plant outside Paris - which employs some 3,000 people - in order to curb its mounting losses.

Peugeot stated the Aulnay factory will be decommissioned in 2014, while its Rennes manufacturing facility is due to cut 1,400 posts from its current workforce of 5,600.

Another 3,600 jobs will be lost across the automotive business's entire French payroll.

Last week, Peugeot announced its first-half sales had slipped 13 per cent due to financial problems in the eurozone.

Chairman of the managing board Philippe Varin said: "The depth and persistence of the crisis impacting our business in Europe have now made this reorganisation project indispensable."

These measures have been welcomed by investors, because at 12:30 BST, Peugeot was at €7.1 per share on the Paris Stock Exchange, which is 0.5 per cent higher than at the start of the day's trading.